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What Is Abscam?

In February of 1978, the FBI recruited Melvin Weinberg, a convicted con artist, to assist them in their pursuit of two stolen paintings. Through continued collaboration with the art and insurance fraud expert, the organization's operation evolved into an investigation of political corruption. Using the same tactics Weinberg employed to swindle money from clueless investors, the government hoped to draw out money-hungry politicians and catch them in illegal negotiations. To pull off the operation, Weinberg created a fake company, “Abdul Enterprises,” funded by two wealthy Arab sheiks. Shorten “Arab scam” and you get “Abscam.” (In the years since the operation, the FBI has insisted the portmanteau derives from the more politically correct “Abdul scam”)